Main Street in A. Park. Their firemen do not fear risk to their 1890 fire bell. They want it open for the public. Blogfinger photograph. September, 2018 ©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
The Ocean Grove bell is on Camp Meeting land. The Asbury bell is on public land. Maybe that is why the public there is respected more than the public in Ocean Grove, and there is much more at stake than just a bell.
It is the idea of caring for the public good in one private space compared to one public space. That is why public land rights must be preserved and protected from private interests such as the land use clashes in OG; and the beach, ocean and lake vulnerabilities in all places where waterways are preserved for the public’s use for conservation and recreation.
Here is a related link from 2016 by Jack Bredin:
JOHN RUTTER AND THE CAMBRIDGE SINGERS: “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”
Wisher: Wonderful poetic tribute to the firemen at that Warrington conflagration. And your assessment of the “locked up grave” in Firemen’s Park, Ocean Grove, takes us deeper, to the next level, in knowing what’s wrong with that place.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
I witnessed the Firemen. They were all over it, in an instant, which couldn’t come too quick. They lost the WArrington and were on the roofs of the Pierre: soldiers against the flames. When the east bridge gate was locked, they literally climbed over it, fleet-footed.
And so this locked-up grave of a memorial, dishonors them.